State Route 24 (SR-24) is a state highway in south central

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

which runs south from Salina through Sevier County then east through Wayne County and north east through

Emery County Emery County is a county in east-central Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,976. Its county seat is Castle Dale, and the largest city is Huntington. History Prehistory Occupation of the San Rafae ...

. At a total of 163.294 miles (262.796 km), it is the longest contiguous state route in Utah. A portion of the highway has been designated the ''Capitol Reef Scenic Byway'' as part of the

Utah Scenic Byways The legislature in the U.S. state of Utah has designated a system of Utah Scenic Byways in addition to the National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or mor ...

program.

Route description

Utah State Route 24 Between Loa and Lyman, Utah

The highway starts at US-50 near Salina and ends at

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

near Green River, taking a scenic route between the

Fishlake Fishlake is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. In 2001 it had a population of 628, increasing to 682 at the 2011 Census. It was mentioned in ...

and

Dixie National Forest Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km²) and stretches for about across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it st ...

s then through

Capitol Reef National Park Capitol Reef National Park is an American national park in south-central Utah. The park is approximately long on its northsouth axis and just wide on average. The park was established in 1971 to preserve of desert landscape and is open all ye ...

, along the eastern side of the

San Rafael Reef The San Rafael Reef is a geologic feature located in Emery County in central Utah, part of the Colorado Plateau. Approximately 75 miles (120 km) long, it is the name given to the distinctive eastern edge of the San Rafael Swell. Composed pr ...

passing

Goblin Valley State Park Goblin Valley State Park is a state park of Utah, in the United States. The park features thousands of hoodoos, referred to locally as goblins, which are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as tall as several yards (meters). Th ...

and meeting I-70 again near Green River. Along the way, it passes through the towns of

Loa ( ), also called loa or loi, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerate ...

Lyman Lyman may refer to: Places Ukraine * Lyman, Ukraine United States * Lyman, Iowa * Lyman, Maine * Lyman, Mississippi * Lyman, Nebraska * Lyman, New Hampshire * Lyman, Oklahoma * Lyman, South Carolina * Lyman, South Dakota * Lyman County, South Dak ...

, Bicknell, Torrey and

Hanksville Hanksville is a small town in Wayne County, Utah, United States, at the junction of State Routes 24 and 95. The population was 219 at the 2010 census. Situated in the Colorado Plateau's cold desert ecological region, the town is just south ...

. The

Mars Society The Mars Society is a nonprofit organization that advocates for human Mars exploration and colonization, founded by Robert Zubrin in 1998. It is based on Zubrin's Mars Direct plan, which aims to make human mission to Mars as lightweight and ...

established the

Mars Desert Research Station The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is the largest and longest-running Mars surface research facility in the world and is one of two simulated Mars analog habitats owned and operated by the Mars Society. The MDRS station was built in the e ...

just outside Hanksville, due to its Mars-like terrain . The north easterly section past the San Rafael Reef is open desert with distant views of the

Henry Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

and

La Sal Mountains The La Sal Mountains or La Sal Range are a mountain range located in Grand and San Juan counties in the U.S. state of Utah, along the border with Colorado. The range rises above and southeast of Moab and north of the town of La Sal. This range ...

Traffic volume

The Average Daily Traffic (AADT) for SR-24 is at its greatest between Salina and

Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovi ...

, where it varies between 3,085 down to 1,500 at the Junction with SR-118. Past that point, the volume of traffic varies greatly, reaching peaks where the highway coincides with the main streets in the several towns through which it passes. In

, the AADT reaches 2,080, in Torrey, it peaks at 1,230. Then the traffic dies down to 295 by the time SR-24 arrives back at

History

Utah State Route 24 Between Loa, Utah and Lyman, Utah

The road from SR-11 (by 1926 US-89) at

southeast and east to

became a state highway in 1910 ( Wayne County) and 1912 ( Piute and Sevier Counties).

Utah Department of Transportation The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is an agency of the state government of Utah, United States; it is usually referred to by its initials UDOT (pronounced "you-dot"). UDOT is charged with maintaining the more than of roadway that co ...

Highway Resolutions
, updated September 2007, accessed May 2008 The number was assigned in 1927 by the state legislature, and in 1935 it was extended northeast from Hanksville to

US-6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, t ...

near Green River. A realignment in 1961 bypassed Capitol Reef Road between Fruita and Caineville; as part of the construction of

, the east end was moved west to that highway's exit 149 in 1964. SR-24 was extended north from its west end over former US-89 to present-day US-89 in 1969, and cut back slightly to its current end at US-50 in the 1977 renumbering. (The 1969 extension was signed as part of US-89 until 1992, soon after I-70 was completed.

Highway Resolutions
, updated November 2007, accessed May 2008) For a time in the 1950s and 1960s, there was also a State Route 24A, which was a short spur of SR-24 from Sigurd southwest along Main Street to SR-11/US-89.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 024

024 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

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Capitol Reef National Park